Welcome to Living a Life of Gratitude.
I'm Sarah Wiseman.
Abundance is always present.
The road I drive each day cuts through an ancient apple orchard,
Curving and winding through farmland which has long been let go.
It's mostly overgrown now,
The once orderly orchards are now a tangle of meadow and new forest.
But there are still old apple trees amidst unkempt land,
Gnarled with age and growing so close to the road it's almost dangerous.
During the height of the harvest they scatter their abundance upon the road,
Golden yellow apples,
Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand.
They drop onto the road,
Not just one,
But hundreds.
And then these same apples stay on the road for weeks,
Ripening until their skin splits from the sun,
Sweetening until the point of rotting.
The animals come and partake,
Then the birds and insects.
But mostly the apples just lie there until they're run over by cars and finally washed away by the autumn rain.
A few times I've seen intrepid folks come with apple baskets,
Lightweight wooden containers that they carry around their necks while they pick.
They'll be out there for a few hours picking baskets full.
And yet mostly the apples go to waste.
After all,
It's not an orchard anymore,
It's a road through an orchard.
It's almost as if we can't see the apples outside of our understanding of orchard.
It's almost as if the apples don't exist for us when we see them out of context.
And yet,
Here is magnificent abundance.
Bushels of apples that fall to the ground then are smashed under car tires as people drive to work,
School,
Wherever they're headed on a busy morning.
Windows rolled up against the crisp fall air,
Against the crisp fall air.
Minds busy with a million thoughts oblivious to what is actually around them.
These apples roll onto the very path that we travel and yet only a few will even notice them.
Fewer still will harvest this abundance.
I stopped the car one misty morning pulling to the side of the road as commuting cars swerved past me.
I looked up into the branches of this tree still laden with apples and I smelled their apple smell and listened to the slow hum of bees droning across the ground,
Glutted with sweetness.
And then after I'd had my own fill of this perfect morning,
These perfect unclaimed apples,
The very sweetness of the bees underfoot,
I got back in my heart.
I got back in my car and headed on my way.
The apples are probably still there for whoever will slow down enough to see them.
So often we think that the gifts aren't there because we can't see the orchard for the road.
But if we will only slow down and allow ourselves to relax into divine view,
The abundance is there within easy view,
Within simple grasp.
Today,
Drive a new route.
Look with new eyes.
Take your mind off your thoughts and simply see what is in front of you.
Be thankful as you notice the gifts you may have missed before when you were too busy searching.
When we become present,
Abundance is everywhere.
